Burial at Sea: Buried Alive
by UberVenkman
Summary: Elizabeth is alive, and her tear abilities are back, thanks to the helpful meddling of the Lutece twins. But with her abilities limited and the Rapture situation dire, she must rely on the helpful voice of Brigid Tenenbaum as well as her wits to escape.


The circle was broken.

Booker was living somewhere in New York, reunited with Anna, struggling to repay his debts, but never forgetting what she would've gone through had he made the deal.

Sally would be saved by Jack, and would live out her life in Upstate New York, never forgetting the man who adopted her and the woman who protected her with her life.

And as for Elizabeth? She had saved Sally at the cost of her life, lying dead in the underwater city of Rapture.

Dead…or was she?

It all began with the spiraling tunnel…

* * *

Elizabeth gasped as she hit the ground. She felt very dizzy, but managed to push herself up on her feet. The air smelled distinctly of mold, and the floor was damp.

Looking around, she noticed she had emerged from the Vita-Chamber in Suchong's Lab. How was that possible? Her genetic code wasn't in Rapture's system.

Suddenly, her radio crackled to life. _"Try to remain calm,"_ came a calming voice with a German accent. _"The Vita-Chamber you are emerging from was a prototype, so you might not have come out right as rain. Try to find a health station."_

Elizabeth stumbled through the laboratory, leaning onto the wall as much as possible. Everything was so cloudy, it was impossible to make the slightest movement without feeling the need to vomit. She paused to look at the hole in the wall she had climbed through to her death.

_"__Why do you stand there?!"_ the voice shouted. She really wished it hadn't. _"If you want to leave Rapture, you might as well do as I say!"_

"How the hell do I know I can trust you?" Elizabeth grunted, finding the exit and a health station.

_"__Because I'm your ticket out of here!"_ the voice shouted. There was a pause, and she cleared her throat. _"Forgive me, Fräulein Comstock. I am—"_

"Don't call me Comstock," Elizabeth managed to say as she inserted some money into the health station. A needle came down and inserted some liquid into her arm. Her head cleared, and the nausea stopped. "I've had to live up to that name. Just…call me Elizabeth."

_"__Very well, Elizabeth. I am Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum."_

Visions of a silhouetted woman behind a glass flashed through Elizabeth's head. "Of course," she said, eyes widening. "You're the one who protected the Little Sisters and helped Jack defeat Fontaine."

There was a pause. _"How in the world did you know that?"_ Tenenbaum asked. _"You've been dead for over a year, you weren't around when that happened!"_

"Over a y…" Elizabeth trailed off, shocked. "Wait…why am I even alive?"

_"__Because you got out of the Vita-Ch–"_

"I know I got out of the Vita-Chamber! But my genetic code shouldn't even be in the system!"

_"__It was put there."_

"By whom?!"

_"__There were two people: a man and a woman. They gave me a vial of your DNA and the hacking codes to the Vita-Chamber system. I was unable to get you into the system until after Ryan's son defeated Fontaine, as I had my Little Ones to attend to."_

"Why did you do what they asked?"

_"__I was observing you,"_ Tenenbaum explained. _"I saw how you protected one of the Little Sisters, Sally, against all odds. I suppose I owe you a favor. Take the bathysphere in Suchong's clinic to the Welcome Center. I will meet you there." _

Elizabeth began to move back towards the lab when she looked down at her right hand. "My pinky…" she said in shock. No longer was it whole: part of it was now covered by a thimble.

_"__Elizabeth? Elizabeth, what's wrong?"_

Suddenly, Elizabeth felt fatigued. Some blood dripped out from her nose as she remembered.

* * *

Sally sat by Elizabeth's body. She didn't quite comprehend why the woman protected her, but she understood that she had died for it.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Looking around, she saw two people, a man and a woman, walk up. They casually acknowledged Sally and turned their attention to Elizabeth.

"Disappointing."

"What? That she succeeded?"

"No, that's far from disappointing. I knew she would."

"And you also knew she wouldn't."

"Correction: behind a different door she wouldn't. Behind this one, she did."

"Than what exactly is disappointing to you?"

"She died."

"Well, that's obvious. But, all's well that ends well."

"It's not well, she didn't deserve this."

"And Comstock didn't deserve a legion of followers, and that's what he got, right?"

"Comstock was insane. What do you have to say about her?"

"Well, I can imagine quantum-superposition can flush one's rational thought down the toilet."

"But she wasn't exactly in a state of quantum-superposition anymore."

"But it was a heroic death."

"Since when did you believe in heroics?"

"When you started believing in them. Right about now…"

"…sometimes I hate it when our minds are in sync."

"And now I do too. Regardless, there is something we can do."

Rosalind pulled out a syringe, leaned down, and inserted it into Elizabeth's arm. She pulled out some blood and inserted it into a vial. She turned towards Sally. "Might I borrow you for a moment, dear?"

Sally tilted her head in confusion.

"I only wish to use your blood," Rosalind said bluntly.

Sally blinked, but held up her arm. "Ow!" she vocalized as Rosalind inserted the needle and pulled out some ADAM. She placed the ADAM in the vial and shook it up.

"There," she said. "Perfect for uploading into the Vita-Chamber system."

"Now we need to bring it to someone we can trust," Robert said. "And I think I know just the person. Let us depart."

"You're not saying we're leaving her behind, are you?" Rosalind asked, pointing to Sally.

"Of course not," Robert said. He bent down. "Hold my hand, little one," he said. He noticed her doll. "Ah, a bit gruesome, I believe. Let me fix that first." He reattached the doll's head to its body, then lifted Sally up.

Rosalind looked at Elizabeth. "Two bodies, same DNA, same universe," she observed. "Which one will be revived by the Vita-Chamber?"

Robert thought about this. "There's much to say about both, isn't there?" he commented. "But she won't be able to control all the doors yet. That will come with time."

"Like her mental conditioning?" Rosalind asked, motioning to Sally.

"Exactly like her mental conditioning," Robert replied. And with that, they disappeared, leaving Elizabeth's body to the elements.

* * *

_"__Elizabeth, are you alright?"_

"I'm just…grateful," Elizabeth said. "Listen…where is Sally? Is she with you...?"

_"__Not anymore, I'm afraid: I sent her up with Ryan's son. Do you wish to see her when we get to the surface?"_

"No, I…I think she's better off not seeing me," Elizabeth said. "Not for a long time."

She reached the bathysphere dock. Looking around, she noticed two dead bodies lying in the newspaper stand, instead of the one from before. Atlas must've seen no need for his guard there.

"No need for a gun, then," she muttered, stealing his. "You can never be too careful down here."

* * *

The bathysphere dove into the water and began to make its way towards the Rapture Welcome Center.

_"__Fräulein Elizabeth, you still have not answered my question. How did you know about Ryan's son?"_

Elizabeth sat on the cushion, considering her options. "Some secrets are better off as secrets," she replied.

_"__I've kept nothing from you as of yet."_

She sighed. "There was a time where everything was served to me on a silver platter. Any meal I could eat, every book I could read, and a friend who would never leave me."

_"__And?"_

"It was all a lie. A prison to keep me submissive to those who wanted to control me. One day a man came and released me from this prison. That man, it seems, was my father."

_"__Heroic act."_

"It was he who got me into this position in the first place."

_"__I'm not quite sure how…"_ Tenenbaum's voice was covered by static.

"Dr. Tenenbaum? Dr. Tenenbaum!" Still static. Suddenly, it cleared, and a different voice came.

_"__Many stories tell of a woman who mysteriously appeared in Fontaine's Department Store before the Civil War,"_ it said. _"Suchong was quoted as saying she would be a valuable asset to the science of Rapture. Poor fellow never saw the light of day on that topic."_

"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked, puzzled.

_"__My name is Sofia Lamb."_

Visions of a woman forcing a Big Daddy to shoot himself in the head flashed through Elizabeth's head. Further images of someone drowning in a bathysphere alongside a Big Sister came next.

"I know what you want," she said darkly. "You want my abilities. To help you run the Rapture Family."

Lamb paused. _"I cannot think of a reason why you would know that,"_ she said after a moment. _"But since you do, perhaps your talents could be put to good use."_

"You wouldn't get a drop of what I can do," Elizabeth retorted.

_"Then perhaps I can appeal to your pleasant side. __You have seen the fall of Rapture.__ You can see its rebirth. The Rapture Family needs a prophet, and you...you fit the bill just fine."_

Elizabeth clenched her fists. "Let me tell you something about prophets," she growled. "They are lying bastards. They will do everything to protect their beliefs, even if it means harming others. I don't care what sort of religion your Rapture Family wants, I will NEVER help a person like you."

For a moment, there was silence.

_"Very well,"_ Lamb replied. _"It was pleasant doing business with you, Miss Comstock."_

A distant rumble was heard. Elizabeth peered out the window. Something was coming at her, and fast.

"What the hell is that?!" she shouted.

_"__That is a torpedo, Miss Comstock,"_ Lamb replied calmly. _"It probably won't kill you. The water in your lungs will."_

Elizabeth looked around. There had to be a way to escape alive. Maybe the bathyspheres had a diving suit or something.

She lifted a seat cushion. Bingo. Emergency diving suit. Elizabeth clambered into it, placed the helmet on, and pulled the bathysphere lock. But the door wouldn't budge!

"Shit, it opens outwards," she cursed. The torpedo was getting closer and closer every second.

Elizabeth had used tears to jump everywhere. Did she have the power to create one right now? She shut her eyes, concentrated, and tried as hard as she could to open the tear.

* * *

The next thing she knew, she was floating in the water. Turning around, she saw the torpedo collide with the bathysphere, destroying it where it floated.

Elizabeth smiled in triumph. But as she began to swim back towards the city, she felt her nose start to bleed.

The radio crackled to life. _"Curious, isn't it?"_ Robert Lutece said. _"Her tear abilities are back."_

_"Yet they seem to be a curse rather than a gift."_

_"A penny for a penny, apparently."_

_"You can't have god-like powers without having god-like consequences."_

_"Be weary, child. Try too hard, and you might find yourself someplace not so nice. And it won't be a Vita-Chamber this time."_


End file.
